Juan Manuel Fangio - Racing Profile | Motor Sport Magazine Database Juan Manuel Fangio 17th July 1995 (Aged 84) Balcarce, Buenos Aires Province Argentina Bio Juan Manuel Fangio was motor racing royalty whose five World Championship wins set a record that lasted almost half a century. He had an aura that was justified by both his achievements and modest demeanour. The fourth of six siblings, Fangio was raised in a humble immigrant family in the provincial town of Balcarce, his painter-decorator father having arrived from Italy when a child. Fascinated by cars from an early age, Fangio left school at 11 years old and worked as a mechanic in a local garage. “Chueco” (“the bandy legged one”) was something of a frail youth and he almost succumbed to a severe case of pneumonia when a teenager. Keen on football and boxing at the time, Fangio’s life changed when a client of the garage asked him to be his riding mechanic in one of Argentina’s marathon road races. He completed his Military Service at Campo de Mayo near Buenos Aires before setting up his own garage in partnership with close friend Jose Duffard and the venture soon prospered.

It was 1934 when Fangio raced for the first time but his borrowed Ford Model A retired that day. Those tentative early steps were taken without the knowledge of his parents but his improving results meant the subterfuge could not last for long. It was with a Chevrolet Coupe that had been bought with the help of his neighbours that Fangio eventually came to the fore. His breakthrough success came in the 1940 Gran Premio Internacionale del Norte. He battled established stars Oscar and Juan Galvez during the 5920-mile road race from Buenos Aires to Lima and back. Fangio eventually eased to victory after the brothers both retired. He won the Turisimo Carretera (Argentina’s road racing championship) that year and the next to confirm his promise but it was then suspended until 1947. It was Galvez who prevailed for the next two seasons when it resumed and the brothers would win the championship for 14 of the next 15 years.

Fangio’s first opportunity to race against European stars came in the 1948 Temporada and he impressed Jean-Pierre Wimille after they battled for the lead at Rosario while both driving Simca-Gordinis. Fangio set the fastest race lap and led the Frenchman before his engine expired. Now 37 years old, Fangio finally made his European debut when driving a works Simca-Gordini 11 at Reims that year. He qualified on the front row for the voiturette Coupe des Petites Cylindrees but retired from both that race and the Grand Prix itself. His Argentinean season was a tragic one however because co-driver Daniel Urrutia was killed when Fangio crashed during the seventh leg of the Buenos Aires-Caracas road race. His GP debut may have been unremarkable but his return to Europe with an Automovil Club Argentina entered Maserati 4CT/48 was sensational. The 1949 Formula 1 season began with the previously unheralded Fangio scoring dominant victories at San Remo, Pau and Perpignan.

He added further success at Marseille and Albi (driving a Scuderia Achille Varzi Simca-Gordini 15 in the former) before his unbeaten run only ended with retirement from the GP de France at Reims. He also won the Formula 2 race at Monza and returned to Argentina with his reputation established and an Alfa Romeo contract for the following season. The famous Italian marque returned for the newly established F1 World Championship in 1950 with Fangio, Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Fagioli as regular drivers. Running second behind Farina when he retired from the British and Swiss GPs, Fangio won at Monaco after the Italian caused a nine-car accident on the opening lap. Back-to-back victories in the Belgian and French GPs meant Fangio entered the Monza finale with the points lead and he qualified on pole position for a fourth time. However, he retired while running third to hand the inaugural title to his team-mate. There was no such disappointment in 1951 for Fangio held off Ferrari’s increasing challenge to be crowned World Champion for the first time.

That year began with Fangio driving a pre-war Mercedes-Benz W163 in the Temporada races – finishing third in the Buenos Aires City GP. He then won the opening GP in the Swiss rain and after taking over Fagioli’s car in France. But the new normally aspirated Ferrari 375 now challenged the supercharged Alfa Romeo 159 thanks to its much better fuel consumption. Alberto Ascari scored back-to-back victories for Ferrari to enter the final race just two points behind Fangio and with fewer scores to drop. Ascari qualified on pole position for the decisive Spanish GP but his challenge soon evaporated due to an incorrect tyre choice for the fast Pedralbes road course. Fangio led from the fourth lap to secure a title that was celebrated with an outpouring of Latin fervour from Buenos Aires to Balcarce. The 1952 World Championship was switched to F2 rules after Alfa Romeo withdrew and Fangio joined Maserati for his title defence. He also started a couple of F1 races with the undeveloped BRM H16 but retired at Albi and Dundrod.

However he rolled his Maserati A6GCM at Lesmo during the early laps of the non-championship Monza Autodrome GP. The resulting broken vertebrae in his neck and concussion forced Fangio to miss the rest of the season. He returned to Maserati for the start of the 1953 season with the opening race held in Argentina for the first time. However, this was a period of total Ferrari domination and Fangio retired from the first three GPs of the year. He was narrowly beaten by Mike Hawthorn’s Ferrari 500 after a slipstreaming classic at Reims and repeated that second-place finish in Britain and Germany. The season ended at Monza once more and Fangio was part of a four-way fight for the lead all the way to the flag. He challenged double World Champion Ascari into the final corner on the last lap and the Italian spun. Fangio crossed the line to win a GP for the first time in two years and inflict Ferrari’s only such defeat during the World Championship years. He completed 1953 by winning the Carrera Panamericana for Lancia.

New F1 rules were introduced for the 1954 World Championship and Fangio signed with Mercedes-Benz. They were not ready for the start of the season so Fangio drove a works Maserati 250F in the first two GPs of the season instead – winning in both Argentina and Belgium nonetheless. Mercedes made its eagerly anticipated return to the sport by fielding three streamlined W196s in the French GP and it was immediately clear that F1 had a new benchmark. Fangio and Karl Kling lapped the field to complete a dominant 1-2 for the Silver Arrows. It was therefore a surprise when he struggled in the British GP – Fangio finishing fourth after struggling to judge Silverstone’s open corners due to the enclosed bodywork. With a new open-wheel version of the W196 available when required, Fangio won the next three GPs as he clinched a second world title. That he won six of the nine races that year emphasised that Fangio was undoubtedly now the best driver in the world. He was joined by young Englishman Stirling Moss for 1955 and opened the F1 season by withstanding the extreme heat to win the Argentine GP once more.

The Monaco GP was lost when his rear axle broke but Fangio led Moss home at Spa-Francorchamps in a convincing 1-2 victory for the team. However, Mercedes and the sport as a whole had been shocked to the core when the 300SLR of “Pierre Levegh” crashed into the crowd at Le Mans, killing the Frenchman and over 80 spectators. The French, German, Swiss and Spanish GPs were all cancelled as a consequence but Mercedes dominated the three races that still staged. Moss led Fangio home at Aintree and “El Maestro” won in Holland and Italy to clinch the title. He also finished second in the Mille Miglia, Tourist Trophy and Targa Florio as Mercedes also won that year’s World Sportscar Championship. Mercedes withdrew from all forms of motor racing at the end of the season so Fangio joined Ferrari in 1956. Armed with the Vittorio Jano designed Lancia-Ferrari D50, Fangio won the opening round in Argentina and finished second in Monaco, having taken over from team-mates Luigi Musso and Peter Collins respectively after his own car had been delayed.

This was not a happy season for Fangio and back-to-back victories for Collins put a fourth World Championship in doubt. Indeed, when he retired from the final race in Italy it appeared that the title was between Moss (Maserati) and Collins. In the event, the selfless Collins gave his car to Fangio who brought it home to finish second and clinch another title. There were rumours of retirement but the 45 year old returned to Maserati in 1957 instead. That season delivered his fifth world title (and fourth in a row), his finest GP victory and confirmed Fangio’s status as a legend. He won the opening three GPs in Argentina (successful at home for a fourth year in a row), Monaco and France – his 250F famously captured on full drift at Rouen by Motor Sport’s Michael Tee. Fangio conjured his greatest F1 drive to recover from a tardy pitstop at the Nurburgring to pass the Ferraris of Collins and Hawthorn – clinching another title with his 24th and final GP victory. With Maserati withdrawing as a works concern, Fangio decided to race as a freelance in 1958.

The year began with his privately entered 250F on pole position and fourth at the finish of the Argentine GP. Victory in that year’s Formule Libre Buenos Aires City GP confirmed that Fangio’s talent remained undiminished. Kidnap before the Cuban GP was described as “an adventure I rather enjoyed” but an invitation to race at Indianapolis was scuppered by existing contractual obligations and business affairs back home (still in partnership with Duffard). He appeared in a World Championship GP for a 51st and final time in the French GP at Reims – again finishing fourth to draw a close to a glorious career. Motor racing’s most famous son remained a regular visitor to the F1 paddock and he was an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz during his later years. When he died in 1995 after a long illness, Fangio left a legacy of records and demeanour that can only be beaten on the printed page. A truly humble gentleman, Juan Manuel Fangio remains a giant of Formula 1.

Championship seasons Juan Manuel Fangio | The Formula 1 Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia 1957 German Grand Prix Juan Manuel Fangio ( FANGE-ee-oh ; born June 24 , 1911 in Balcarce, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina – died July 17 , 1995 in Buenos Aires, Argentina), nicknamed El Chueco ("knock-kneed") or El Maestro ("The Master"), was a racing car driver from Argentina , who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing. He won five Formula One World Driver's Championships — a record which stood for 46 years until eventually beaten by Michael Schumacher — with four different teams ( Alfa Romeo , Ferrari , Mercedes-Benz and Maserati ), a feat that has not been repeated since. Many still consider him to be the greatest driver of all time. [1] He is the only Argentine driver to have won the Argentine Grand Prix , having won it four times in his career. Contents Edit Fangio was born on San Juan's day in 1911 in Balcarce , to Italian immigrants.

[2] He began his racing career in Argentina in 1934, driving a 1929 Ford Model A which he had rebuilt. [3] During his time racing in Argentina, he drove Chevrolet cars and was Argentine National Champion in 1940 and 1941. [3] He first came to Europe to race in 1948, funded by the Argentine Automobile Club and the Argentine government. [3] Formula One racing Edit Fangio, unlike later Formula One drivers, started his racing career at a mature age and was the oldest driver in many of his races. During his career, drivers raced almost with no protective equipment. Fangio had no compunction about leaving a team, even after a successful year or even during a season, if he thought he would have a better chance with a better car. As was then common, several of his race results were shared with team mates after he took over their car during races when his own had technical problems. His rivals included Alberto Ascari , Giuseppe Farina and Stirling Moss .

Fangio's first entry into Formula One came in the 1948 French Grand Prix at Reims , where he started his Simca Gordini from 11th on the grid but retired. He did not drive in F1 again until the following year at Sanremo , but having upgraded to a Maserati 4CLT/48 sponsored by the Automobile Club of Argentina he dominated the event, winning both heats to take the aggregate win by almost a minute over Prince Bira . Fangio entered a further six F1 races in 1949, winning four of them against top-level opposition. 1950 Edit For the first Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1950 Fangio was taken on by the Alfa Romeo team alongside Nino Farina and Luigi Fagioli . With competitive racing machinery following the Second World War still in short supply, the pre-war Alfettas proved dominant. Fangio retired from the first round of the championship at Silverstone whilst running third whilst championship rival and teammate Nino Farina won but he would win in Monaco when whilst Farina retired.

Fangio avoids the carnage In Monaco Fangio got a better start than Farina and when they approached the Tabac corner for the first time they found that it had flooded. Fangio negotiated the corner whilst Farina spun causing a 10 multi-car pile-up. Joint leaders of the championship, Farina and Fangio were the class of the field again in Bremgarten for the Swiss GP but Fangio would retire from second and it was status quo at the front of the Belgian GP but this time it was Farina who struck problems and crawled the car home 4th ensuring he kept the championship lead. Fangio takes victory to close on the championship The championship moved onto France and Farina looked in impressive form tearing away in the lead from Fangio but this pace damaged his car and he retired from the lead giving Fangio the win and top of the championship. Fangio won each of the three races he finished, but Farina's three wins and a fourth place allowed him to take the title.

As Farina bolted off at the start line at the Italian GP with Alberto Ascari in the improved Ferrari in pursuit, Fangio knew all he had to do was collect good points and drove cautiously but on lap 22 disaster struck for the Argentine driver suffering gearbox problems. Fangio took over the car of Pierro Taruffi and set about charging back through the field but the pace was too much and he retired again on lap 35 leaving Farina to cruise to the title, Fangio second and Fagioli third. In 1950's non-championship races Fangio took a further four wins and two seconds from eight starts. 1951 and beyond Edit Fangio won three more championship races for Alfa in 1951 in the Swiss , French and Spanish Grands Prix, and with the improved Ferraris taking points off his team mates, Fangio took the title in the final race, six points ahead of Ascari. With the 1952 World Championship being run to Formula Two specifications, Alfa Romeo were unable to use their supercharged Alfettas and withdrew.

As a result the defending champion found himself without a car for the first race of the championship and remained absent from F1 until June, when he drove the British BRM V16 in non-championship F1 races at Albi and Dundrod. Fangio had agreed to drive for Maserati in a race at Monza the day after the Dundrod race, but having missed a connecting flight he decided to drive through the night from Paris , arriving half an hour before the start. Badly fatigued, Fangio started the race from the back of the grid but lost control on the second lap, crashed into a grass bank, and was thrown out of the car as it flipped end over end. He was taken to hospital with multiple injuries, the most serious being a broken neck, and spent the rest of 1952 recovering in Argentina. Back to full racing fitness, Fangio began 1953 by winning the Carrera Panamericana in a Lancia D24. Back in Europe he rejoined Maserati for the championship season, and against the dominant Ferraris led by Ascari he took a lucky win at Monza.

Fangio qualified second with Bonetto seventh, and Fangio set fastest lap on his way to a 1.4-second victory over Nino Farina while Bonetto retired out of fuel. Along with that win, Fangio secured three second places to finish second in the Championship, and also came third first time out in the Targa Florio . In 1954 Fangio raced for Maserati until Mercedes-Benz entered competition in mid-season. Winning eight out of twelve races (six out of eight in the championship) in that year, he continued to race with Mercedes—driving the W196 Monoposto —in 1955 in a team that included Stirling Moss. At the end of the second successful season (which was overshadowed by the 1955 Le Mans disaster in which more than 80 spectators were killed) Mercedes withdrew from racing. In 1956 Fangio moved to Ferrari, replacing Ascari, who had been killed in an accident, to win his fourth title. Enzo Ferrari and Fangio did not have a very warm relationship, despite their shared success.

Fangio took over his team-mate's cars after his suffered mechanical problems in three races, the Argentine , Monaco and Italian Grands Prix. In each case the points were shared between the two drivers. At the season-ending Italian Grand Prix, Fangio's Ferrari team mate Peter Collins, who was in a position to win the World Championship with just 15 laps to go, handed over his car to Fangio. They shared the six points won for second place, giving Fangio the World title. Saving the best until last "I have never driven that quickly before in my life and I don't think I will ever be able to do it again". Fangio after 1957 German GP [4] In 1957 Fangio returned to Maserati, who were still using the same iconic 250F which Fangio had driven at the start of 1954. Fangio started the season with a hat-trick of wins in Argentina, Monaco and France, before retiring with engine problems in Britain. At the next race, the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring circuit, Fangio needed to extend his lead by six points to claim the title with two races to spare.

From pole position Fangio dropped to third behind the Ferraris of Hawthorn and Collins but managed to get past both by the end of the third lap. Fangio had started with half-full tanks since he expected that he would need new tyres half-way through the race. In the event Fangio pitted on lap 13 with a 30-second lead, but a disastrous stop left him back in third place and 50 seconds behind Collins and Hawthorn. Fangio came into his own, setting one fastest lap after another, culminating in a record-breaking time on lap 20 a full eleven seconds faster than the best the Ferraris could do. On the penultimate lap Fangio got back past both Collins and Hawthorn, and held on to take the win by just over three seconds. With Musso finishing down in fourth place, Fangio claimed his fifth title. This performance is often regarded as the greatest drive in Formula One history, but it was to be Fangio's last win. After his series of back-to-back championships he retired in 1958 , following the French Grand Prix .

Such was the respect for Fangio, that during that final race, race leader Hawthorn had lapped Fangio and as Hawthorn was about to cross the line, he braked and allowed Fangio through so he could complete the 50-lap distance in his final race. He would cross the line over two minutes down on Hawthorn. He won 24 World Championship Grands Prix from 51 starts - a winning percentage of 47.06%, the best winning percentage in the sport's history. [5] Later life and death Edit During the rest of his life after retiring from racing Fangio sold Mercedes-Benz cars, often driving his former race cars in demonstration laps. Even before he joined the Mercedes Formula One team, in the early 1950s, Fangio had acquired the Argentine Mercedes concession. He was appointed President of Mercedes-Benz Argentina in 1974, and its Honorary President for Life in 1987. Cuban rebels kidnapped him on February 23, 1958, but he was later released, and remained a good friend of his captors afterwards.

The incident was dramatized in a 1999 Argentine film directed by Alberto Lecchi , Operación Fangio . [6] Following his retirement, Fangio was active in assembling automotive memorabila associated with his racing career. This led to the creation of the Museo Juan Manuel Fangio , which opened in Balcarce in 1986. [7] Fangio was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990. He returned to the spotlight in 1994, when he publicly opposed a new Province of Buenos Aires law denying driver's licences to those over 80 (which included Fangio). Denied a renewal of his card, Fangio reportedly challenged Traffic Bureau personnel to a race between Buenos Aires and seaside Mar del Plata , a 400 km (250 mi) distance, in two hours or less, following which an exception was made for the five-time Grand Prix winner. [8] Juan Manuel Fangio died in Buenos Aires in 1995, at the age of 84. He was buried in his home town of Balcarce in Argentina .

Formula One Statistical Overview Juan-Manuel Fangio - Biography Juan-Manuel Fangio Affectionately known as "bandy legs" by his many fans, Juan Manuel Fangio was born in Balcarce, Argentina the son of an Italian immigrant in 1911. After military service he opened his own garage and would race in local events. These "local" events were not the weekend meetings that occur all over England but long-distance races held over mostly dirt roads up and down South America. Fangio's first race at eighteen was in a Ford taxi. One particular race, which he won in 1940, the Gran Premio del Norte was almost 10,000 kilometres long. This race between Buenos Aires, up through the Andes to Lima, Peru and back again took nearly two weeks with stages held each day. No mechanics were allowed and any repairs would have to be completed by either the driver or co-driver at the end of each stage. Following many successes driving all makes of American modified stock cars; Fangio was sponsored by the government and sent to Europe to continue his career after the end of World War II.

It was not until 1949 at the age of 37 that he achieved regular success on the European circuit. In 1950 he was given a drive at Alfa Romeo. Battling with his teammate Nino Farina he ended up in second place but the die had been cast. The next year Fangio won the first of his five titles. 1952 saw him suffer his first major accident, at Monza, when he broke his neck and had to miss the rest of the season. The accident may have been caused by a promise Fangio had made to take part at the race in Monza after his race in Budapest. Because he missed the connecting flight he had to drive himself the whole night from Paris to Monza. Only half an hour before the race began he arrived and took up his starting position completely overtired. He had promised to race at Monza following a race in Belfast but due to missed connections he found himself driving all night from Paris only to arrive at the circuit one half hour prior to the race. Having to start from the back of the grid he made a rare mistake and the Maserati he was driving went into a big slide.

Being extremely tired his reactions were not what they would normally have been and he could not regain control of the car before it hit an earthen bank and somersaulted in the air. Fangio was thrown out and would spend the next few hours hovering near death. The following year he returned at the wheel of a Maserati and finished the season in second place. Fangio always made it his policy to garner the loyalty of the team mechanics. He told them that they would receive ten percent of any winnings. During practice for the Italian Grand Prix he complained of a severe vibration but come race day the problem had completely disappeared. The mechanics had switched cars in the middle of the night and given Fangio's vibrating car to his teammate Bonetto. In 1954 he moved to the Mercedes team and won his second World Championship. Fangio drove twelve Grands Prix for Mercedes winning eight times. This began a string of four straight titles. In 1955 he won a particularly brutal race at the Argentine Grand Prix. The three-hour race was run during a grueling heat wave. With a track temperature of over 135� few drivers other than Fangio were able to complete the race.

In 1957 the championship arrived at the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring where it was generally acknowledge by the Grand Prix Circus that this would be Fangio's last season.He was determined to finish on top. Fangio and Hawthorn qualified one-two and the race looked set for an epic battle.The Maserati of Fangio started the race on half tanks and it was incumbent on him to build a large enough margin that would allow him to pit yet retain his lead. This he started to do, blistering the track at a record pace but Hawthorn and Collins in the Ferraris had other ideas.On the twelfth lap Fangio dove into the pits. Even though everyone in the Maserati pits was prepared the pit stop cost Fangio the lead when both Collins and Hawthorn thundered past. Finally the work was done and Fangio re-entered the fray. All seamed loss as Fangio was now 45 seconds behind the leading duo and few thought that even the great Fangio could make up this difference. Fangio was one of the few as he began chopping off large chunks of the gap to the leaders. In the Ferrari pit panic took hold as they pleaded for their drivers to go ever faster.

Fangio would later say that he drove faster than he ever wanted to drive again. The lap record came tumbling down and he would soon be lapping at a faster average speed than that with which he had qualified! Both Collins and Hawthorn continued to race at a furious pace. Peter Lewis, the famous British journalist said that "he (Fangio) might almost have been pullingthem backwards on the end of a rope for on the twentieth lap Fangio sliced eleven seconds off their lead. Fangio caught Collins first and passed him on the inside but the Englishman returned the favor and pushed Fangio back into third." The second time Fangio drew alongside and then slowly drew away. Just the Collins was hit in the eye by a stone thrown up by the Maserati's rear wheel but was saved by his goggles. Now it was Hawthorn's turn and still Fangio came on; actually driving straight on in one corner to pass force his way past Hawthorn. They would finish three seconds apart with Collins coming in third. The victory gave Fangio an unassailable lead in what would become his fifth and final World Championship. So ended the maestro's greatest race.

In 1958, driving his last race, the French Grand Prix he finished fourth and retired. His Maserati was not competitive that day and was about to be lapped by the race leader Mike Hawthorn. As a mark of respect for the great man known as "the maestro" by his peers Hawthorn braked and allowed Fangio to cross the line ahead of him. Getting out of the car after the race he said to his mechanic simply, "It is finished." Juan-Manuel Fangio was famous for winning a race at the slowest possible speed. His record of wins against starts will probably never be matched. Formula 1's greatest drivers. Number 2: Juan Manuel Fangio - BBC Sport BBC Sport Formula 1's greatest drivers. Number 2: Juan Manuel Fangio 13 Nov 2012 From the section Formula 1 Share this page Read more about sharing. BBC Sport has profiled 20 of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. The BBC F1 team were asked to provide their own personal top 20s, which were combined to produce a BBC list.

Veteran commentator Murray Walker provides his own reflections in a video of their career highlights, and chief F1 writer Andrew Benson profiles the driver. This week, number two - Juan Manuel Fangio. It seems hard to believe now, but the world almost never got to see the genius of the man who is still regarded by many as the greatest racing driver there has ever been. The 1957 German Grand Prix has passed into F1 folklore as one of the defining races in the sport's history, and arguably the greatest performance ever produced by any driver Juan Manuel Fangio set records so immense that, in percentage terms, they will surely never be beaten. The Argentine competed in 51 Formula 1 grands prix, of which he won 24, set 28 pole positions and 23 fastest laps. In seven full F1 seasons, he won five world championships. Yet he almost never made it to Europe. Fangio cut his teeth in long-distance races staged over thousands of miles on the dirt roads of South America. In 1948, his car went off the road in Peru and tumbled down a mountainside.

His co-driver Daniel Urrutia, his best friend, was thrown out and when Fangio found him, he was dying. Fangio, already 37, at that stage had competed in only one grand prix, in France in 1948. Following Urrutia's death, he considered quitting. But he resolved to carry on and returned to Europe the following year. And so the legend began. Fangio was average height and balding, and one of his two nicknames was 'El Chueco', or 'bandy legs', from his days playing football as a child. His motor racing career earned him another epithet - 'Maestro'. Success in F1 came relatively late in life. Fangio was in his forties before he won his first world title in 1951. But even in losing the inaugural F1 world championship title in 1950 to Alfa Romeo team-mate Giuseppe Farina by a narrow margin, already there were signs that he was on another level from the rest. One of the characteristics that makes great drivers stand out from the very good is the capacity to multi-task, to focus on things beyond simply driving a racing car on the limit.

There have been few better examples of that than at Monaco in 1950. A multi-car crash at Tabac on the first lap left the track blocked. Fangio, leading, was unaware of the incident, and as he headed along the harbour front he seemed sure to plough into the wreckage, which was out of his sight around the corner. Instead, he suddenly slowed, stopping just short of the blockage. How had he known? Lowdown on the 'Maestro' 24 wins 28 pole positions "I was lucky," he recounted. "There had been a similar accident in 1936 and I happened to see a photograph of it the day before the race. As I came out of the chicane, I was aware of something different with the crowd - a different colour. "I was leading, but they were not watching me. They were looking down the road. Instead of their faces, I was seeing the backs of their heads. So something at Tabac was more interesting than the leader - and then I remembered the photograph and braked as hard as I could." Luck, clearly, had had nothing to do with it.

After his first title, Fangio missed half of 1952 after suffering a broken neck in a crash in a non-championship race at Monza early in the season, the result of fatigue after driving all night from Paris to make the start of the race. When he returned in 1953, his Maserati was outclassed by Alberto Ascari's Ferrari, but from 1954 he was unstoppable. Fangio won four titles in a row, two for Mercedes (after he won the first two races of '54 in a Maserati), and one for Ferrari, before returning to Maserati in 1957. Stunningly fast but also clever and politically astute, Fangio always made sure he was in the right car, and his ability meant it was always his for the taking. He was the epitome of elegance, calm and ease. His philosophy was always to win at the slowest possible speed. Out of the car, no-one had a bad word to say about him. "What made him so great," said Stirling Moss, "was his concentration and his balance of the motor car. He wasn't a technician. He was just a great artist of driving.

But above all that he was a gentleman and a wonderful man." Fangio was so good that he rarely needed to push to the limit. So on the days he did give his ability free reign, it was somehow all the more shocking and impressive. He wasn't a technician. He was just a great artist of driving Stirling Moss One of those days was at Monaco in 1956, when he drove probably the least Fangio-like race of his career. His Lancia-Ferrari D50 was not the most elegant of cars, either in its appearance or its handling. Even allowing for that, this drive was something else. Fangio spun on oil on the first lap. Moving back through the field, he damaged the nose of his car on that of team-mate Peter Collins. Back up to second, he hit the wall at Tabac. His own car now barely driveable, he stopped and took over Collins's, rejoining the race 90 seconds behind the leader, Moss in a Maserati. Fangio chased the Englishman for two hours, on - and sometimes over - the limit throughout. At the finish, he was six seconds behind.

Fangio described it as "maybe the strongest race I drove" but most would save that accolade for his final win. The 1957 German Grand Prix has passed into F1 folklore as one of the defining races in the sport's history, arguably the greatest performance ever produced by any driver. It took place at the Nurburgring, the 14-mile track through the Eifel mountains regarded as the toughest test of a racing driver ever devised. Fangio was on pole in his Maserati 250F, about three seconds faster than Mike Hawthorn's Ferrari. He built up half a minute's lead before making a planned pit stop and rejoined 50 seconds behind with 10 laps remaining. For three laps, he made no real impression on Hawthorn and team-mate Peter Collins, circulating together at the front, but then he let loose. He began lapping 15 seconds faster than the old lap record - set by himself the year before. By the end of lap 19, he was 13 seconds behind Hawthorn and Collins. The next was a new lap record, more than eight seconds faster than his pole time.

By the end of it he was right with the Ferraris, and soon swept by to victory. Talking to the journalist Nigel Roebuck in 1979, Fangio left no doubts about the magnitude of the achievement. Even if I or someone else can equal or beat Fangio's record, it still will not compare with his achievement Ayrton Senna "Even now, these many years later, I can feel fear when I think of that race," he said. "Only I knew what I had done, the chances I had taken. "The Nurburgring, you know, was always my favourite circuit, without any doubt. I loved it, all of it, and I think that day I conquered it. On another day, it might have conquered me, who knows? But I believe that day I took myself and the car to the limit - and perhaps a little bit more. I had never driven like that before, and I knew I never would again." The race made him world champion for the fifth time and the end of that season effectively brought the curtain down on his career. "It was becoming work for me," he said.

He took part in only two of the first five grands prix of 1958, and after finishing fourth in France he retired, aged 47. Fangio returned home to his birthplace, Balcarce, to run a Mercedes dealership, and was appointed president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina in 1974. From time to time, he returned to Europe to demonstrate his former race cars. He died in 1995. One of his foreign trips in his later life was to the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, where he shared an embrace on the podium with Ayrton Senna, who worshipped him. "Even if I or someone else can equal or beat Fangio's record," Senna once said, "it still will not compare with his achievement. "What he did in his time is something that was an example of professionalism, of courage, of style and as a man, a human being. Every year there is a winner of the championship, but not necessarily a world champion.

I think Fangio is the example of a true world champion." Juan Manuel Fangio, Formula one racer • Biography & Facts Juan Manuel Fangio Formula one racer Juan Manuel Fangio (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈfanχjo], Italian pronunciation: [ˈfandʒo]; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed El Chueco ("the bowlegged one", also commonly translated as "bandy legged") or El Maestro ("The Master"), was a racing car driver from Argentina, who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing, winning the World Drivers' Championship five times.From childhood, he abandoned his studies to pursue auto mechanics. In 1938, he debuted in Turismo Carretera, competing in a Ford V8. In 1940, he competed with Chevrolet, winning the Grand Prix International Championship and devoted his time to the Argentine Turismo Carretera becoming its champion, a title he successfully defended a year later.

Fangio then competed in Europe between 1947 to 1949 where he achieved further success.He won the World Championship of Drivers five times—a record which stood for 46 years until beaten by Michael Schumacher—with four different teams (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati), a feat that has not been repeated. A member of the Formula 1 Hall of Fame, he is regarded by many as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all timeand holds the highest winning percentage in Formula One - 46.15% - winning 24 of 52 Formula One races he entered. Fangio is the only Argentine driver to have won the Argentine Grand Prix, having won it four times in his career—the most of any driver.After retirement, Fangio presided as the honorary president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina from 1987, a year after the inauguration of his museum, until his death in 1995. In 2011, on the centenary of his birth, Fangio was remembered around the world and various activities were held on the occasion of his birthday.

Personal facts Juan Manuel Fangio | Formula One Drivers | All Time | F1PULSE.com MILESTONES PROFILE Many call him the greatest driver of all time and many others swear by his skills in a Formula One car, but Juan Manuel Fangio just cannot be described with words. It was always his driving that spoke. Fangio was born on June 24, 1911 on San Juan’s day in Balcarce, Argentina. Born to Italian parents, this five-time world champion began racing in Argentina in 1934, when he drove a 1929 Ford Model A. He was the Argentine National Champion in 1940 and 1941. With remarkable achievements at this level of motorsports, the Argentine government and the Argentinian Automobile Club did not hesitate to send him to race in Europe in 1949. “The Master” Fangio made his Formula One debut at the age of 37 and was the oldest driver in most of the races he featured in. The 1948 French Grand Prix was his first F1 race and he failed to finish after starting 11th on the grid.

But in 1949, in a Maserati, Fangio won four races, beating a mighty opposition and caught everyone’s attention. For the first Formula One World Drivers’ Championship in 1950, Fangio drove an Alfa Romeo and won three out of the five races he competed in. Other races were hurdled by the ongoing World War II but Fangio proved his mettle in that inaugural season of the Formula One Championship, nonetheless. He was placed second with 27 points in the Drivers’ run. The following season, “The Master” won the Swedish, French and the Spanish Grands Prix and was second in Great Britain and Germany. In just his second season in F1, Fangio won the title with Alfa Romeo. Also known as “El Chueco” (knock-kneed), Fangio was left out in the cold when Alfa Romeo pulled out of the championship in 1952. He missed the first race of the season and was hoping that Maserati would have a place for him. They did, but for a single race at Monza.

Fangio was racing for BRM in the meanwhile at Albi and Dunrod and had to reach Monza as quickly as possible. He missed a connecting flight and ended up driving from Paris through the night to show up half an hour prior to the race. Starting from the back of the grid, a fatigued Fangio crashed out in the second lap as his car took several topples to the side. He fell out of the machine and was hospitalised with multiple injuries and a badly bruised neck. Driving for Maserati in 1954, a fully fit Fangio was second in the Drivers’ Championship with four podium finishes and 28 points in his Maserati. Like this was just a build-up to what was going to happen in the next four years, Fangio’s extraordinary driving won him the next four World Championship titles like it was nobody’s business. With six wins and 42 points in the 1954 season with Mercedes and Maserati, Fangio resurrected his championship title in the most brilliant fashion that one could imagine. Out of the six races that he raced in a Mercedes during 1955, he won four and was second in the British Grand Prix.

It was his third title win and it resurrected his stature in the F1 fraternity. Moving to Ferrari in 1956 after Ascari’s death in an accident, if anything, just added to Fangio’s glory and he won yet another title. Remarkably, he had taken over his teammates’ cars after a mechanical failure in his engine in Argentina, Monaco and Italy. It spoke about his diligence to finish all races that he took part in. Not someone who would stick on to the same team if he sensed an opportunity in another, Fangio saved his best for the last. In 1957 he returned to Maserati. He had a bullish start, winning the Argentine, Monaco and the French Grands Prix. The following race at Nurburgring, is considered to be one of the best drives in the history of F1. Fangio started on pole position and was just six points away from clinching the title when he lost his position to Hawthorn’s and Collins’ Ferraris. He gained back his position in the third lap and had a 30 second lead over the Ferraris.

He was running on half-tank and a slow pit stop on the 13th lap gave the Ferraris an opportunity to take a 50 second advantage over Fangio. Like a champion with a ‘never give up’ attitude he drove the race of his life, setting fastest lap after fastest lap and on the 20th lap he was a full 11 seconds quicker than the best time the Ferraris had managed in the entire race. In the penultimate lap, Fangio who was perhaps in a trance, overtook both Hawthorn and Collins and won the race and his fifth World Championship title with a whopping lead of three seconds over the Ferraris. In the following season, “The Master” featured in two Grands Prix in Argentina and later in France. In the French Grand Prix, Fangio’s final, Hawthorn had already lapped the dark stallion but paid homage to this invincible figure of racing by braking just before the finishing line to allow this true champion to finish his 50 lap race distance in his very last Grand Prix.

Juan Manuel Fangio, with the kind of respect that he has earned in motorsports and his five World Championship titles will go down as one of (if not the most) indispensable part of F1 history. -Anup Pareek Juan Manuel Fangio | The F1 History Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Juan Manuel Fangio was born in Balcarce, Argentina in 1911 at 12:10 am on San Juan's Day. His grandparents had immigrated to Argentina in 1887, while Fangio's father immagrated with his wife later. During his childhood he became known as El Chueco, the bandy legged one, for his skill in bending his left leg around the ball to shoot on goal during football games. When Fangio was 13, he dropped out of school and worked as an assistant mechanic. When he was 16, Fangio started out riding as a mechanic for his employer's customers. He also developed pneumonia during a football game which almost proved fatal. He was bed-ridden for two months and cared for by his mother. After recovering, Fangio served compulsory military service at the age of 21.

His driving skills caught the attention of his commanding officer to appoint Fangio as his official driver. Fangio was discharged before his 22nd birthday after taking his final physical examination. He returned to Balcarce where he aimed to further his football career. Their team-mates at Balcarce suggested the two work on Fangio's hobby of building his own car and his parents donated a part of a small section of their home where a rudimentary shed was built. Fangio's racing career began in 1934 when began using a Ford Model A which he re-built. He also drove Chevrolet cars while racing in Argentina and was Argentine National Champion in 1940 and 1941. He also took part in many road races, including the Argentine Road Race in which in 1938 he and Luis Finocchietti came seventh in a 1937 Ford Coupe. Formula One Edit In 1948 Fangio went to race in Europe. He was funded by the Argentine Automobile Club and the Argentine government.

Fangio's first entry into Grand Prix racing came in the 1948 French Grand Prix at Reims, where he started in 11th on the grid in a Simca Gordini but eventually retired. He did not drive in Formula One again until the following year at Sanremo, but having upgraded to a Maserati 4CLT/48 sponsored by the Automobile Club of Argentina he dominated the event, winning both heats to take the aggregate win by almost a minute over Prince Bira . Fangio entered a further six Grand Prix races in 1949 , winning four of them against top-level opposition. 1950 Edit For the first World Championship of Drivers in 1950 Fangio joined the works Alfa Romeo team alongside Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Fagioli . With competitive racing cars and technology following the Second World War still in short supply, the pre-war Alfettas proved dominant. Fangio won each of the three races he finished, but Farina's three wins and a fourth place allowed him to take the title. In non-championship races Fangio took a further four wins and two seconds from eight starts.

1951 - 1952 Edit In 1951 Fangio stayed with the Alfa team with their new 159 car, winning the Swiss , French and Spanish Grands Prix, and with the Ferraris now much improved they began taking points off his team mates, allowing Fangio to take the title in the final race, six points ahead of Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari . Alfa Romeo pulled out of the World Championship at the end 1951 leaving Fangio without a drive for 1952 . Eventually he signed up for the Maserati team, but before he could start racing in the championship season he suffered a broken neck in a racing incident at a non-championship event at Monza . He crashed into a grass bank on the second lap, and was thrown out of the car as it flipped end over end. He was taken to hospital and spent the rest of the year recovering in Argentina. 1953 Edit For 1953 Fangio was back in Europe and in full fitness, he rejoined Maserati for the championship season, and against the dominant Ferraris led by Ascari he took a lucky win at Monza .

Along with that win, Fangio secured three second places to finish second in the Championship, and also came third first time out in the Targa Florio. He ended 1953 in a Lancia D24 winning the Carrera Panamericana in record time. 1954 Edit For the first three races of the 1954 season , excluding the Indianapolis 500, Fangio continued with Maserati winning both the Argentine and Belgian Grands Prix, before switching to the Mercedes team. After switching to the Mercedes team mid way through 1954, Fangio went onto win four more races and claim the Driver's title using the technologically advanced Mercedes-Benz W196 . 1955 Edit For 1955 Fangio remained with the dominant Mercedes-Benz team and their W196 car. For 1955, Fangio subjected himself to training programme which was strenuous in an effort to keep up his fitness levels high which was comparable to his younger rivals. This worked and once again he dominated the championship winning four races.

At the end of the year Mercedes pulled out of Formula One after the 1955 Le Mans disaster leaving Fangio without a drive 1956 Edit In 1956 Fangio moved to Ferrari to win his fourth title. Enzo Ferrari and Fangio did not have a very warm relationship, despite their shared success. At the season-ending Italian Grand Prix , Fangio's Ferrari team mate Peter Collins , who was in a position to win the World Championship with just 15 laps to go, handed over his car to Fangio. They shared the six points won for second place, giving Fangio the World title. Fangio at the 1956 British GP Edit In 1957 Fangio returned to Maserati, who were still using the same iconic 250F which Fangio had driven at the start of 1954. Fangio started the season with a hat-trick of wins in Argentina , Monaco and France . At the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring circuit, Fangio needed to extend his lead by six points to claim the title with two races to spare.

It what is regarded as one of his best races he set several fastest laps one after another before breaking the lap record to win the race and the championship. 1958 Edit In 1958 , after three appreancaes including the 1958 Indianapolis 500 , Fangio decided to retire. At his final race , leader Hawthorn had lapped Fangio and as Hawthorn was about to cross the line, he braked and allowed Fangio through so he could complete the 50-lap distance in his final race. Fangio was held in high respect by drivers, and he records would go on to last decades. Getting out of the Maserati after the race, he said to his mechanic simply, “It is finished.” After Formula One Edit He won 24 World Championship Grands Prix from 52 entries – a winning percentage of 46.15%, the best in the sport's history (Alberto Ascari, who is in second, holds a percentage of 40.63%). His number of Driver's Championships also went unbeaten until Michael Schumacher won his sixth in 2004 .

During the rest of his life after retiring from racing Fangio sold Mercedes-Benz cars, often driving his former race cars in demonstration laps. Even before he joined the Mercedes Formula One team, in the mid-1950s, Fangio had acquired the Argentine Mercedes concession. He was appointed President of Mercedes-Benz Argentina in 1974, and its Honorary President for Life in 1987. Juan Manuel Fangio died in Buenos Aires in 1995, at the age of 84; he was buried in his home town of Balcarce. His pall-bearers were his younger brother Ruben Renato ("Toto"), Moss, compatriot racers José Froilán González and Carlos Reutemann , Jackie Stewart , and the president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina. Complete Formula One results ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year

Question: What nationality was Formula 1 motor racing champion Juan Fangio?
Answer: Argentinian